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Originally Posted by StanT
am I the only one that feels men get unfairly bitched at over housework?
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No, even in my family the work ain't divided "evenly"
I can say that my Dad and step mother is in the same situation as you are, in terms of working a high stress job, being well compestated, etc. But when it comes to doing chores around the acerage, splitting up the work can cause a splitting headache to them.
I work 20 hours at Fedex in the evening doing the biggest labour job compared to others (couriers, data entry, etc) and I go to school full time.
My 18 years old step sister works full time but she'll be starting school in another city and won't have a job at the same time. She mops around alot and refuse to do anything physical other than houseworks (She's bigger than me)
My step brother is 14, currently his only job is on weekends and he does nothing in the between but mop around and wait for
mother to tell him to do some work (Note: I bolded Mother because she is the only one that can actually get him to do something around the house, even my Dad can't get him to do something and usually I would have to roughen him up)
My brother is 20, he's a step above my step brother, he works full time (Currently on strike), doesn't go to school. He does do some work around the house but he fails to grasp the concept of housework other than the need to clean up whenever his gf comes over.
On your typical Saturday, I'm beat as hell, my brother, step sister and step mother would be out working on weekends. My dad would be outside working on fixing the fence, yardwork, whatever needs to be done outside. My stepbrother as usual, would be sitting in his room doing nothing. Hell, I just finished helping my Dad taking apart the fence and eveytime I went into the house to get some drinks, I found my stepbrother either on the phone, watching tv or on the computer.
On your typical Sunday would be worse, the time when everybody's home and nobody wants to do anything. My Dad and my step mom would be outside working. I would sometimes help them or do my homework. My brother would help sometimes or use his gf as an excuse to escape the work as well my step sister and again, my step brother would mop around.
My point being? There's no fuckin point in trying to "evenly" split up the work. It's easy doing that on jobs by simply paying employee more for their work (Ie: Fedex Ramp employee typically get paid more compared to data entry agents due to the fact that we do more physical labour). In your home, same situation, there's always gonna be somebody complaining whether it'll be you, your wife, your brother, sister, mother, father or whoever else is in the house.
The best way to do it in my opinion is that when somebody is working, have the others do something. In your situation, I suggest that you sit down with your wife, explain the whole thing the way you did to us and tell her what you think is fair and what's not fair and perhaps she'll see what you're seeing and from that point on, things will get better
Edit: I just read the thread in the Ladies Lounge, it's kinda funny that women complain more about the housework then men complaining about yardwork eh?
Plus, why does you guys try a little role reversal? See if she can do all the yardwork, fix the vehicles, etc while you do the easy stuff in the house. I call housework easy stuff simply because wiping up coffee stain aint much compared to wiping up oil stain on the concrete